All the residents in Zhaoge City were evacuating, buy it was all quiet in the Royal Palace.
There were both emotional and practical reasons the residents in the Royal Palace didn't leave.
Indeed, a main reason was that the Royal Palace was protected by a Great Formation set up by seven major Cultivation sects in cooperation, which could even resist the most powerful of attacks.
Knowing these facts didn't mean the people inside the palace were free of fear. As another earthquake occurred, the supporting beams in the palace buildings made cracking sounds, and dust slightly rose up. Many palace servant girls shrieked until they were reproached by the eunuchs who were roaming the buildings. The scared screams had gradually subsided.
The soldiers of the magic army stood on the walls of the Royal Palace, holding the magic archeries in their hands and watching the surroundings closely. They ignored what was happening behind them.
The soundless palace was as quiet as a graveyard; it was a dreadful feel.
Standing in front of the palace, Royal Concubine Hu displayed a hint of fear in her expression while looking at the changing clouds and energies in the sky.
Though she didn't know what had happened in Zhaoge City, it was evidently a significant event since the Great Formation had been activated inside the Royal Palace.
"Please go on, Your Highness." She heard Gu Qing's voice not far away from her.
Royal Concubine Hu turned around and saw her son in stride by the window, ready to thrust his fists; she couldn't help but feel surprised.
She walked to the side of Gu Qing, asking in a low voice, "Mister Gu, do you think today…we should suspend his training?"
"On the path of Cultivation, the key part is to harden the Dao Heart. One should be able to show no fear or hesitation even when facing the collapse of the Royal Palace."
Gu Qing's voice was quite calm, like the spring water on Shenmo Peak.
Royal Concubine Hu thought that Gu Qing was quite admirable. And she mused that he was indeed an immortal master of Green Mountain and could keep his cool when he was evidently aware that something significant was happening in Zhaoge City.
What she didn't know was that Gu Qing was nervous to an extreme extent, though he looked normal. If he hadn't gripped both of his hands with all his might, he would have trembled already.
The earthquakes suddenly occurred in Zhaoge City, and the Great Formation was activated in the Royal Palace; the energies in the air became chaotic…he had vaguely guessed that all these must have something to do with his Master whom he hadn't seen for a long time. So he was of course worried.
To conceal his emotion, Gu Qing focused even more on training the Prince Jing Yao.
Watching them on the side, Royal Concubine Hu grew increasingly uneasy.
She heard the news from a eunuch that the residents outside the palace were evacuating. She couldn't stand it anymore and walked out of her palace hastily.
All the eunuchs and the palace servant girls were requested to stay in their respective buildings and not to go out on their own. The Royal Palace appeared rather quiet and peaceful.
It didn't take her long to arrive at the Grand Hall of the Royal Palace. She prostrated in front of a bright yellow figure, saying, "Your Majesty…"
"This emperor knows what you are going to say. Don't worry. Nothing serious will happen. Even if it did happen, this emperor had even more reasons to stay."
The Emperor walked past her and came to the front of the hall, looking at the distant morning sun that had just arisen in the east.
The morning sunlight fell on his handsome face, his pupils exuding a peculiar glow, giving out a royal aura, like the rising morning sun.
Seeing the back of the Emperor, the admiration in Royal Concubine Hu's eyes was evident.
She didn't say anything more, as she walked to the side of the Emperor, standing silently, looking very adorable.
The Emperor reached out his hand and rubbed her head.
Royal Concubine Hu laughed happily, caressed the palm of the Emperor with her head, extremely lovely.
The ground suddenly quivered again. The cracking sound could be heard inside the Grand Hall.
The building protected by the formation shook so much, so it could be imagined how violent the quake would be outside the Royal Palace.
Royal Concubine Hu grew slightly paler, and grabbed the Emperor's sleeve reflexively.
The Emperor glanced at her lovingly. An object rolled out of his sleeve after he summoned it, which landed in Royal Concubine Hu's hand.
The object was round shaped, like an egg; yet, its surface was as polished as jade, looking extremely beautiful and peculiar.
"What is this?" Royal Concubine Hu asked surprisingly.
The Emperor said, "This is the Jade Egg of Rosefinch."
Royal Concubine Hu was stunned.
The Rosefinch was a divine bird, same as the Old Dragon and the Unicorn of the Center Sect and the Round Turtle of the Green Mountain Sect, an ancient life of the highest state.
The last Rosefinch in Chaotian had died of the natural fire ten thousand years ago; it was unbelievable that it had left an egg.
Thinking that there might be a baby Rosefinch inside the egg, Royal Concubine Hu was extremely nervous, her hands trembling. "Why do you give me this? Take it back quickly!" she said swiftly.
Under such urgent circumstances, she even forgot to address the Emperor by "Your Majesty", but spoke to him like she did in bed at night.
The Emperor laughed happily, saying, "You keep it warm for me, and find out when the baby will come out."
Royal Concubine Hu calmed down a bit, as she complained, "I'm a vixen. I don't know how to hatch an egg."
On the second level of the Fiend Prison, the darkness was as black as the ink, where one could hardly see anything; but for some beings, this place was no difference from the broad daylight.
The spiritual soul of the Old Dragon disguised as an old man, hovering in the sky, his cloth ruffling.
Looking at Jing Jiu lying on the ground, his eyes displayed a hint of cruelty and enjoyment, saying, "I have finally caught you, you little mosquito…"
By employing the Underworld Fairy Sword, Jing Jiu appeared and disappeared now and then. His trace was difficult to predict. Every time when Jing Jiu appeared, he would use the iron sword to damage a part of the Fiend Prison, wounding the Old Dragon in the process.
This was similar to what a mosquito would do.
Besides the cruel and enjoyable emotion, there were two more emotions in the old man's eyes: greed and resentment.
He felt greedy because the old man wanted to eat Jing Jiu immediately; and he was resentful because…he felt real pain at the moment.
The fractures were everywhere in the Fiend Prison, which were pierced by Jing Jiu's iron sword; they were actually the wounds for the Old Dragon.
Yet, these wounds were not serious for the Old Dragon when compared to his dreadful huge body overall; and the poison on the iron sword couldn't kill him even if the sword soaked in the poisonous water for an extra thousand years.
However, the wounds felt painful after being eroded by the pond water, and they also felt awfully itchy.
Right now he was like a large elephant with innumerable clefts cut by the tree branches, and meanwhile the ants were crawling into those clefts.
On the other hand, Jing Jiu's condition wasn't much better than the old man's; actually, he was in a much worse condition.
Countless bolts of lightning had struck him, and he bled a great deal. His whole body was as black as the coal, with bright residual threads of lightning remaining. He was on the brink of expiring.
The old man landed in front of Jing Jiu. Seeing the terrible condition he was in, the old man was extremely delighted, and said tersely, "I'm a divine dragon. Once I get angry…"
His voice stopped short.
His delightfulness should derive from his enemy's pain.
However, the old man couldn't sense Jing Jiu's pain. As a result, his delightfulness went away quickly, and was replaced by his own pain.
Jing Jiu looked really terrible at the moment, worse even than the botched Thunder-Soul Wood. In fact, he looked like the firewood wetted by the rain and having burnt for two days and one night in the stove in the small village.
But the expression in his eyes was still as calm as ever.
Even though his eyes looked a bit dimmer due to the expiring of his life, they were still as calm as the lake water.
His emotion was as nonchalant as ever.
Even though he was lying on the ground, it seemed that it was he who looked down on the old man.
He displayed the demeanor of a noble young master even though he was in the position of a beggar.
As long as he could still keep his eyes open, his opponent meant nothing in his eyes.
These were the feelings Jing Jiu rendered to others.
Seeing Jing Jiu with such a demeanor, the old man suddenly became furious. "You beg me! Beg me to end your life quickly!" the old man shouted at Jing Jiu.
Jing Jiu questioned, "Don't you realize that I don't expect a quick death, just a little more time?"
If he had wanted a quick death, he wouldn't have chosen to employ the Underworld Fairy Sword to resist the Old Dragon's pursuit, to withstand so much pain.
He would have chosen more risky and aggressive methods to get out of the quandary.
All Jing Jiu was doing was kill time, to wait for a certain thing to happen or that man to appear.
The old man said with a mocking tone, "Many swordsmen of Chaotian will come to Zhaoge City after the quakes of the Fiend Prison. Even if you can wait long enough for your helper to arrive, you will still die nonetheless."
"If you knew whom I was waiting for, you may change your opinion," said Jing Jiu.
Upon hearing this, the old man suddenly changed his expression, wheeling around to look at the deepest end of the darkness.
That place was the lowest level of the Fiend Prison, and a place even beyond his perception.
The Underworld Emperor was there.